THE summer school vacation this year is almost four months, which is a very long time indeed. Perhaps it qualifies to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. The holy month of Ramadan and the Haj season will end before students return to school. No other country in the world gives students such a long vacation. However, we can take advantage of this vacation and get our children to engage in positive activities that will widen and enrich their knowledge and come in handy one day when they finish their education and prepare to enter the job market. In Japan, for example, the school year consists of around 300 days while the summer vacation is around 50 days. The vacation begins on 6 June and ends 25 July. During the vacation, students are encouraged to participate in various events that will teach them new things, hone their skills in different areas and, above all, enhance their self-confidence. They learn to be responsible and act responsibly, engage in positive dialogue with others and accept the opinions of others. Tolerance is important in Japan, which is known for its advanced technologies. Moreover, students form a clear idea about the future and what they want to study at college. They are taken on tours to big factories and companies that play an important role in the Japanese economy and which have made Japan first globally in the field of manufacturing and technology. Students are urged to observe the work inside these companies and ask about potential job opportunities. Some Japanese students enroll in programs that take them on tours to several cities where they can visit foreign diplomatic missions in Japan. They get to know the nature of diplomatic activities and political, cultural or economic relationships between Japan and other countries. In a nutshell, the summer vacation is not a time when Japanese students are lazy and sleep and waste their time. Although short, it allows students to learn a lot of things. We should follow suit and design programs that benefit our students in the summer vacation and take them on tours to archeological sites and factories and explain to them the promising future careers in these fields.
